Abstract [en]

Introduction: Noncommunicable diseases are one of the main causes of death in the world today. They are affected by a lifestyle with lack of physical activity and increased energy intake which leads to overweight and high blood pressure. Objective: The objective of this literature review was to describe how common risk factors for lifestyle diseases are effected by physical yoga, yoga asana, interventions. Methods: A literature review with 12 reviewed articles, where the studies included an intervention withyoga asana, to study the effects on risk factors for lifestyle diseases on adults. Results: A majority of the selected articles showed that yoga can be effective in reducing risk factors, lowering blood pressure and weight, but some studies showed no effect of the intervention. All studies included other factors that might have affected the outcome, such as dietary advice. Discussion: Clear conclusions of the effect of yoga asana practice cannot be based on these articles. Continued research should focus on conducting studies in which the yoga group is compared with an active control group. That would enable an analysis of the effects of yoga asana in relation to interventions with healthy diet or regular exercise.